The glyph known as Baphomet has different meanings to different people, be they Satanists, Wiccans, Thelemites, or ceremonial magicians. Some recognize it to be a satanic symbol, while others cry passionately that it most certainly is not. Baphomet has a specific and dual meaning for Diabolists, which we will consider below, but let us first review where the name and infamous image of the hermaphroditic goat-human hybrid comes from.
The name “Baphomet” comes to us from the heresy trials of the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, otherwise known as the Templars, which took place in 1307. Many charges were brought against the Templars, ranging from sodomy to apostasy, but what interests us here is the accusation that the Templars participated in the worship of idols, usually in the form of a skull or human head, that was addressed as Baphomet. Many different meanings have been proposed for the name, but most historians now accept that its origin is a corruption of the word “Mahomet.” While the vast majority of scholars believe the charges brought against the Templars were largely erroneous, in the popular imagination the name Baphomet was forever linked to devil worship.
While the name was the subject of speculation over the centuries, it is the author and former Catholic priest Eliphas Levi who forever burnt Baphomet into the occult consciousness of the West with the publication of Dogma and Rituals of High Magic in the middle of the 19th century. This two-volume work included the infamous drawing of Baphomet as a winged, hermaphroditic, goat-human hybrid. For Levi, Baphomet represented pictorially the forces of the universe as an absolute whole.
The goat on the frontispiece carries the sign of the pentagram on the forehead, with one point at the top, a symbol of light, his two hands forming the sign of occultism, the one pointing up to the white moon of Chesed, the other pointing down to the black one of Geburah. This sign expresses the perfect harmony of mercy with justice. His one arm is female, the other male like the ones of the androgyne of Khunrath, the attributes of which we had to unite with those of our goat because he is one and the same symbol. The flame of intelligence shining between his horns is the magic light of the universal balance, the image of the soul elevated above matter, as the flame, whilst being tied to matter, shines above it. The beast’s head expresses the horror of the sinner, whose materially acting, solely responsible part has to bear the punishment exclusively; because the soul is insensitive according to its nature and can only suffer when it materializes. The rod standing instead of genitals symbolizes eternal life, the body covered with scales the water, the semi-circle above it the atmosphere, the feathers following above the volatile. Humanity is represented by the two breasts and the androgyne arms of this sphinx of the occult sciences.
Levi’s description of what Baphomet symbolized maybe genuinely unsatanic, but the material he draws inspiration from is anything but. It’s no accident that his Baphomet so closely resembles The Devil card of the Marseilles Tarot. Likewise, he refers to the figure as the “Sabbatic Goat,” calling to mind the form Satan is said to take when attending the Witches Sabbat.
Levi, like Margaret Murray after him, argues that this he-goat was in fact not Satan, but a horned pagan god whom the Church mistook to be Satan. Thus, any allegations of Devil worship were in fact the survival of ancient pagan practices completely unrelated to the Lord of this World. This idea, while still popular among Wiccans and neo-pagans, has been largely discounted by modern scholars. Whether groups of witches existed historically or not—and I believe they did in small numbers—they did not represent the hidden survival of pagan religion, and the Sabbatic Goat—assuming he existed outside of the Church’s imagination—was not a forgotten fertility god, but the Christian Devil. Levi may have believed he was rehabilitating the image of Baphomet, bringing it closer to what he falsely believed were its true origins, but something like the reverse is actually the case. He inadvertently took an image of Satan and put a veneer on it, making it more palatable for witches and magicians who, as LaVey might put it, were willing to play the Devil’s game but were too afraid to take his name.
For the Diabolist, Baphomet is not so much a discrete entity as a symbol. Its hermaphroditic features reveal one part of its significance. Baphomet represents the Lord and Lady of Hell conjoined. Its breasts and wings are Lilith’s, while its phallus, horns, and cloven hooves belong to Lucifer. With one arm Baphomet points to the Sun, which is the generative power of Satan’s seed, represented in ritual by the Sword. With the other Baphomet points to the Moon, which is the receptive power of Lilith’s womb, represented in ritual by the Chalice. This is why the sigil of Baphomet, a goat’s face with an inverted pentagram superimposed over it, is such an appropriate symbol to display over the altar, for it represents our god and goddess in union. To call upon Baphomet is to call upon the Lord and Lady.
The second meaning of Baphomet, however, is that it symbolizes the Diabolist themselves, or at least what they aspire to be. Baphomet not only represents the union of Lucifer and Babylon, but the child that union produces. The Sabbatic Goat, with one arm pointed to the heavens and the other to the earth, portrays the equilibrium of forces. Creation and destruction. Order and chaos. Earth and wind. Water and fire. The fully realized Diabolist, who knows the daemonic Law stamped upon their soul, has all of these conflicting forces at their disposal, because they sit at the nexus point between the animal and the divine. Baphomet is none other than the Antichrist, whom Lilith births into the world as the black flame that burns with our minds, hearts, and limbs. Thus, the most fitting use of the image of Baphomet in ritual is not to invoke a being separate from ourselves, but to help us establish what we already are.